California Supreme Court Overturns Scott Peterson's Death Sentence

[JamesG]

Scott Peterson's Death Sentence Overturned by California Supreme Court
by Cheri Mossburg and Ralph Ellis, CNN
August 24, 2020


California's Supreme Court on Monday reversed the death sentence handed down to Scott Peterson for the 2002 deaths of his wife Laci and unborn son.
The high court found that the trial itself was fair and the murder convictions stand.

In an automatic appeal, which was first filed with the Supreme Court in 2012, the court found that potential jurors were dismissed erroneously, in part because they expressed general objections to the death penalty on a questionnaire.

"While a court may dismiss a prospective juror as unqualified to sit on a capital case if the juror's views on capital punishment would substantially impair his or her ability to follow the law, a juror may not be dismissed merely because he or she has expressed opposition to the death penalty as a general matter," the opinion states.




Nothing in the questionnaires showed that the dismissed jurors would have been unable to vote for the death penalty if the the circumstances warranted, the justices said.

"The death sentence must be reversed, and the People given another opportunity to seek that penalty before a properly selected jury if they so choose," the opinion said.

The case has been remanded to Stanislaus County Superior Court to handle the sentencing.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/24/us/sc...ned/index.html